MintyBoost! - Small battery-powered USB charger

Step 10 The Process: Finishing up!

There's a bit more work to do. First, I redesign the board since I'm going with a radial inductor instead of an axial one.

I actually do another etch test, to verify eveything one last time. Then I tile two boards together (cheaper) and generate gerbers.

I use gerbv (free software) for viewing and verifying the gerbers. On windows, I use GC-prevue

I always check the boards with www.freedfm.com before I ship them off to be made. I used 4pcb.com so it's the same company but even if you don't go with 4pcb.com as your PCB manufacturer, it's a neat service.

A week later (depending on your turn time) A box shows up with the circuit boards!

Then I sit in front of a computer and do a lot of website stuff. I also take a lot of photos. A good photo setup will make documentation easy. I have a simple 150W ECT bulb + diffuser setup at EYEBEAM. A tripod is key!

Comments

[Minifig666]

 By all rights the two middle pins of the USB connector (D+ and D-) should be shorted together, this tells what you are plugging in that it is a charger and not to bother 'talking' to it, I made a USB charger with an ATX PSU but my iPod (Touch 3G) would not charge unless I shorted the pins together. Has anyone else had this problem?

[bossyboy]

what are the red wire? how are they different from the blue?

[Minifig666]

 The red traces (wires) are at the top of the board, while the blue ones run along the bottom of the board.

[circuitpeople]

Since not everyone has EAGLE (yeah, they could have it but not everyone does have it or know how to use it), and since not all board houses accept EAGLE files (ditto) I exported gerbers from for the PCBs and uploaded them to www.CircuitPeople.com:

http://www.circuitpeople.com./ViewPackage.aspx?id=b3bc33b8-4077-4c77-b8d8-c750d5eac2f2

[bossyboy]

what do the blue boxes represent (the ones around the spots on the usb jack and under the inductor)

[rusty0101]

Those are solder pads for surface mount components. Those components may be 0 ohm resistors, other values, or LEDs. Note that they are labeled R1, R2, R3 and LED1. I presume that this is the option collection for the low voltage indicator that is not part of the standard kit.

[Dunhausen]

Do your have the *.sch *.brd files for the board with the different inductor?

[vrogy]

WOAH! Did they send you the popcorn with the PCBs? I'm totally doing that when/if I ever have a company that mails products out.